CNBC: "California bill would curb use of paper receipts to reduce waste, push digital alternative"

https://social.mikegerwitz.com/url/70688

This is interesting to me because it supports a cause I'm in favor of (environmental) yet is at odds with another (privacy).

With that said, I think this is workable. Already, many point-of-sale (POS) systems give the option to print, email, or (more importantly) decline a receipt. Further, perhaps POS systems could take advantage of NFC so that a mobile device could receive the receipt anonymously.

But what is dangerous about a bill like this is that it provides a compelling legal argument for maliciously gathering consumer data, and many users may not think twice about it.

This may also be difficult for smaller shops to implement without turning to large services that implement this for them, which is also a privacy nightmare, since those services can easily aggregate mass amounts of consumer data. I think small companies should be exempt from a bill like this (if they aren't already; I didn't read it).

I'm sure other good solutions exist; I just haven't given this more than a few moments of thought.